Year-End Call to Action

By Rose Oswald Poels

I want to extend my sincere gratitude to every banker who has supported WBA’s advocacy efforts this year. Your active engagement in the political process — through attendance at WBA’s Capitol Day and Washington, D.C. trips, contributions to Wisbankpac or the Alliance for Bankers Conduit, support for issue advocacy events, and grassroots outreach — plays a pivotal role in ensuring pro-banking candidates from both sides of the aisle are elected. Your involvement ensures that policymakers understand the essential role of community banks in local economies.

This year, WBA set a combined Wisbankpac and Alliance for Bankers Conduit fundraising goal of $300,000 in personal contributions. I’m pleased to share that, in the final month of the year, we are over 85% of the way toward reaching that goal. It is clear that bankers across the state are committed to investing in the strong future of our industry. We are so close to reaching our goal — I encourage all bank leaders and Advocacy Officers to continue motivating your teams and board members to finish off the year strong with additional political giving. A sample fundraising letter is available in the WBA Advocacy Toolkit.

I want to extend a special thank you to the members who have achieved Gold Triangle status to date. This recognition is awarded at our February Bank Executives Conference to banks that meet their allotted contribution total, with levels determined by the bank’s asset size. These banks have demonstrated exceptional leadership through their advocacy contributions this year:

American National Bank – Fox Cities
Associated Bank, Green Bay
Banker’s Bank, Madison
Bank CMG
Bank of Broadhead
Bank of Deerfield
Bank Five Nine, Oconomowoc
Bank of Milton
Bank of Sun Prairie
Bluff View Bank, Galesville
Bristol Morgan Bank, Oakfield
Capitol Bank, Madison
Citizens First Bank, Viroqua
Dairy State Bank, Rice Lake
Farmers State Bank of Waupaca
First Business Bank, Madison
First Citizens State Bank, Whitewater
First National Community Bank, New Richmond
Fortifi Bank, Berlin
Forward Bank, Marshfield
Horicon Bank
Huntington National Bank
Incredible Bank, Wausau
Johnson Financial Group, Racine
JP Morgan Chase
Lake Ridge Bank, Middleton
Marathon Bank
Mound City Bank, Platteville
National Exchange Bank and Trust, Fond du Lac
Nicolet National Bank, Green Bay
North Shore Bank, Brookfield
Northwestern Bank, Chippewa Falls
Oak Bank, Fitchburg
Oostburg State Bank
Peoples State Bank, Prairie du Chien
Premier Community Bank, Marion
Security State Bank, Iron River
State Bank of Chilton
State Bank Financial, La Crosse
The Equitable S.S.B., Wauwatosa
The Farmers & Merchant Bank, Berlin
The Park Bank, Madison
The Peshtigo National Bank
The Pineries Bank, Stevens Point
The Port Washington State Bank
The Stephenson National Bank and Trust, Marinette
Town Bank, N.A., Hartland
Tri City National Bank
Waldo State Bank
Wisconsin Bankers Association
Wolf River Community Bank, Hortonville

It’s not too late to achieve Gold Triangle status if your institution has not yet qualified. Please connect with Lorenzo Cruz or Tyler Foti to learn what remains for your bank to achieve before year-end.

Thank you again for your leadership and continued support of our industry. With your help, I am confident we can exceed our advocacy fundraising goal.

Click here to donate now.

Click here to view the WBA Advocacy toolkit.